A World Away
by katierosefun
Summary: Anakin Skywalker decides to teach Cadena how to drive a speeder for the first time. The results are…if to say anything, rather interesting. [Friendship. Set in the middle of Begin Again.]


**Because I really, really missed writing about Cadena. That is all. **

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_A World Away _

"I still can't believe you don't know how to drive a speeder," Anakin Skywalker said, shaking his head as his apprentice bounded after him in the hanger. Cadena made a _tsk_ing sound and replied, "Don't blame me! I just never got around…paying attention to the classes." She cringed visibly when Anakin whirled around, an incredulous look set on his face. "You didn't _pay attention? What _motivated you into _that? _I always thought learning how to drive a speeder was one of the better lessons to learn from!" he exclaimed dubiously.

Cadena made a face. "Well, I had plenty of distractions, alright?" she shot back. "Besides, it doesn't seem too complicated – just kick the pedal and you're off."

"What – no, Cadena, there is _much more _to driving a speeder than just 'kicking a pedal'." Anakin groaned, planting a hand over his face. "I can't _believe _my own _Padawan _doesn't know how to drive a _speeder_. _Force_."

"Oh, no, I shouldn't blemish the _famous _Anakin Skywalker's record of getting e_verything _done right!" Cadena shot back, sarcasm practically dripping in her voice. When Anakin turned once more to glare, she threw her hands up in the air. "Besides, my class was always pretty loud! I can't concentrate with _that_!"

"All I hear are excuses," Anakin replied, shaking his head. "Besides, it's not like _you _haven't been loud before."

Cadena sighed. Crossing her arms, she leaned back against the wall as Anakin started to activate a speeder. "You know, I can always teach myself," she suggested. Anakin turned to look at her and giving a snort, replied, "And have you crash the thing on the battlefield? No way; this is _much _safer."

"I thought doing _anything _with you wasn't safe," Cadena sighed.

Anakin stood up and giving the speeder a final pat, asked, "Are you going to keep mouthing off, or are we going to get this lesson started?" Puffing out a sigh, Cadena pushed herself away from the wall and started to walk towards Anakin. "Just letting you know now, this'll be a waste of time and you'll see that."

"Doubt it," Anakin replied. He gestured the speeder to Cadena – and giving one last sigh, the younger girl plopped herself down on the seat. Wrapping her hands over the handles, she started to rev the machine up – only to have Anakin call out, "Wait; I'll have to sit next to you just in case you do something silly."

"Said the man whose number one priority is to do something silly," Cadena muttered under her breath, but still waited for Anakin to sit down. Once he was secured in the speeder, he nodded to Cadena. "Take it slow first," he said. "Carefully – and I mean _carefully _– lead us out of the hanger and into one of the lanes. Make sure you don't crash into anyone, or else that'll be an entirely new problem we'll have to take care of."

"Yes, Master," Cadena murmured. Slowly, she pressed her foot against the pedal and the speeder instantly jerked forward. There was a shriek from her, associated with a cry of surprise from Anakin. "I said _carefully!_" he said, grabbing onto the dashboard. Cadena let out a breath, puffing out a strand of hair from her forehead. "I just pressed the thing too hard!" she replied. She adjusted her grip on the handles. "I'll get it next – whoa!"

The speeder flew a few more meters a bit faster than Anakin would have personally liked. Anakin turned to Cadena, whose face had turned into a bright pink color, though from embarrassment or annoyance, he couldn't tell. He closed his eyes briefly – and letting his head fall back against the headrest, said, "Press the pedal _gently_. You don't need to kill the thing."

"Right," Cadena muttered. Anakin watched warily as she placed her foot over the pedal again – and this time, to his relief, Cadena managed to get the speeder (safely) out of the hanger. The brisk air of Coruscant rushed forward to meet the Master and Padawan duo – and the speeder stopped abruptly in front of the lanes of the other forms of transportation.

"Why'd you stop?" Anakin asked, turning to Cadena. Her pupils had dilated; her eyebrows were scrunching together in the space between her eyes. He frowned, giving Cadena a quick nudge. "Hey – are you in there? Now wouldn't be a great time to space out."

Cadena blinked. Slowly, she turned her head towards Anakin and in a faint voice, she replied, "I think it only occurred to me now that…this doesn't sound as easy as I figured, after all." Anakin stared. He searched his mind for a proper answer – but only managed to say, "You're still going to have to learn it."

Anakin watched the younger girl's shoulders square rigidly – then, sucking in a breath, Cadena tapped her foot against the pedal again. The speeder flew forward and joined one of the outer lanes. Anakin took a quick second to look down at the lower levels of Coruscant – and it suddenly occurred to him what a bad experience it'd be if the speeder would drop down. He winced to himself. Hopefully, if it would come down to that, Anakin figured that both Cadena and he would get out fine. Still, he wasn't too keen on seeing what would happen if his new apprentice decided to blank out again.

"Okay. So…I'm in a lane," Cadena whispered so quietly that Anakin could barely hear her over the din of the other people in the area. "How far out are we supposed to go?"

"Up until I say we stop," Anakin replied. Cadena turned for a millisecond to look at the older man. "Well, _that's _reassuring," Cadena said, her voice unusually faint. With that, she pressed the speeder forward again, only stopping again behind another speeder. Anakin took another moment to look down at Cadena – her knuckles had turned white from clutching the handles of the speeder so hard.

"Do you _not _want to ride in lanes?" Anakin asked. "We can always try to find a quieter, more private place to practice your driving skills."

Cadena didn't take her eyes off the lanes as she replied, "Really? We can do that?"

"Yeah," Anakin replied. "Just turn the speeder gently – _I said gently! _– to the left, and we can probably find a roof or something to speed over."

For the first time since Cadena had seated herself on the speeder, a bright smile lit up her face. She did as Anakin told her, timidly turning the speeder in the other direction. She revved it into a quieter alley with a few apartment complexes. "Rev up the handles again – slowly direct yourself upwards," Anakin instructed, and Cadena obliged. Only that didn't stop her from gasping or crying out a little as the speeder turned almost directly vertical. By some miracle, though, the speeder managed to get to the top of one of the apartment buildings.

"Right," Anakin said, letting out a breath. "So we've already established moving around. Take us around the rooftop."

Cadena gave a single nod of her head and circled around the roof. Every once in a while, her eyes would flick over to the other roofs, sometimes to the lights of the planet, other times, back to the lane settled beneath them. Each time, Anakin couldn't help but to notice that Cadena's knuckles were loosening further and further.

xXx

"Do you think you can speed it up?" Anakin asked at last, and to his pleasant surprise, Cadena gave a small nod. Pressing the pedal a bit harder, she finally said, "I think I'm actually getting the hang of this. Huh." She flicked a glance over at Anakin. "I mean, right? I'm getting the hang of this, aren't I?"

"Well, so far, you haven't thrown us off the roof yet, so I think that counts as something," Anakin replied. Cadena frowned. "Ugh," she said. "No use in impressing you, I suppose." She circled around the roof again and asked, "Do you think I can go a bit faster?"

Anakin nodded. "By all means, go ahead," he replied. "Just no crashing."

Cadena smiled. "Sounds good to me!"

Then, without warning, Cadena pressed her foot down on the pedal and the speeder plunged forward. Anakin let out a stunned shout as the speeder started to dive down, down, down…past windows, past other speeders, _much _farther than Anakin had anticipated. He looked at Cadena, ready to yell for her to pull back up before they can kill themselves – but stopped when he saw the look on her face.

Cadena was shrieking with glee, one hand lifted above her head and the other still clinging onto the handle. "_Whoo!_" she screamed. "Look at that, Master! I can actually drive this thing!" She didn't even acknowledge the fact that Anakin hadn't responded – and he couldn't, anyways. A smile slowly spread across his face. A familiar memory was sparking in the back of Anakin's memory – a familiar sense of exhilaration, a feeling of happiness blooming across his chest as his master shouted for him to slow the speeder down.

And then there was Ahsoka, whenever she'd dare Anakin to race with her on the speeder. Anakin's smile slowly faded at that reminiscence. That memory wasn't supposed to re-surface. Not now.

"Whoo!" Cadena repeated, sharply pulling the speeder back up. Her face was pink again, only the brightness in her eyes told Anakin that it was out of excitement, rather than anxiousness. She turned to Anakin and poking him playfully, said, "I did great, didn't I, Master? See that? I did it!"

"Yeah, sure, Cadena, you did fine," Anakin managed to say. He turned his head away and then said, "Thinking of bringing us back to the hanger? It's been a bit of a day, don't you think?" Anakin could hear Cadena's excitement slowly draining down as she said, "What? No, it hasn't! Can't we just –"

"No," Anakin interrupted. "Turn back, Cadena."

He watched as the younger girl startled at the abruptness. Slowly, Cadena nodded her head and lowering her head, the speeder was lead back to the hanger. Cadena deposited the speeder neatly into the large room and hopping down from the vehicle, she said, "I'll be back in our quarters. You know. Just if you were going to…stay here."

Anakin only nodded.

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**A/N - This probably took place around the middle of the first story of the _Begin Again _series. At least, I think so - because Cadena's still pretty fresh as Anakin's new apprentice and of course, Anakin is still a bit sore over Ahsoka. (Then again, we're all pretty sore over Ahsoka.) **

**So...reviews would be nice! And constructive criticism is allowed - but flames are not!**


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